Ramp or inclined runway for vehicles.



V. G. DIAZ.

RAMP 0R INCLINED RUNWAY FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I2, |918.

yPatented Apr. 16,1918.'

:Jn/Dente@ VICENTE Cymen# 'DIAZ VICENTE GARCIA DIAZ,

0F HABANA, CUBA.

RAMP OR INCLINED RUNWAY FOR VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 16, 1918.

Application led January 12, 1918. Serial No. 211,567.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, VICENTE GARCIA. DIAZ, subject of the King of Spain, residing at Habana, Republic of Cuba, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ramps or Inclined Runways for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ramps or inclined runways for vehicles, these being employed to permit the passage of vehicles from the roadways up and over curbing in sidewalks and to permit the access of vehicles to the interior of buildings.

Generally these runways are made of wood having angular side walls supporting the runway and are so arranged as to be set in place against the curbing in the sidewalk when it is desired to use them or taken away after they have been used. Sometimes these ramps or runways are constructed as an integral part of the sidewalk itself. lVhile both of these constructions are efficient for the purpose of permitting the vehicle to cross the sidewalk, they are inconvenient. In the first place, the wooden runway is relatively weak and, moreover, must be put in place and removed manually. In the second place, these inclined sections of the side- Walk are liable to cause injury to persons using the sidewalk, as in icy weather they are very slippery and, furthermore, the difference in the inclination may cause a person to trip.

My invention is intended to overcome the above mentioned inconvenience. and the primary object is to provide a solid and strong runway which though it may form a permanent part of the sidewalk, it presents when not in use as such runway a substantially horizontal or plain surface on a level with the sidewalk. A further object is to so construct the runway that it will automatically assume an inclined position under the weight of a vehicle passing over it, returning again automatically and immediately to its normal horizontal position after said vehicle has passed beyond the same.

With the above objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view partially broken, of the slope of my invention in its normal position; Fig. 2 is also a top plan View thereof, in its'inelined position; Fig.

3 is a longitudinal section of the slope in its normal position, on the line X-X of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 isli'kewise a longitudinal section in an inclined position on the line Z-Z of Fig. 2; Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively longitudinal sections of'modifications of the mechanism shown in Figs. 3 and 4 for actuating the device and to maintain it in its normal position; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the runway in its inclined position, and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the frame of the runway, the cover and forward plate being removed.

In all the figures, the like parts are indicated by the same characters of reference.

The runway includes a framework in box i form, preferably of iron, which presents two lateral vertical walls 1 and 2, a horizontal bottom wall 3, and a rear vertical wall 4, which may all of them be joined together withscrews or rivets, or they may be cast in one piece, as shown in the drawing. This box is provided with a plate 5, which is the cover of the same, disposed to move vertically between and being connected to the latera-l walls 1 and 2 by means of pivot bolts 6 and 7, which run'through suitable holes in the side walls and through the lugs 6 and 7 projecting downward Jfrom the cover 5, so that said cover may oscillate freely upon the bolts and descend when a suitable weight rests or passes over the same until the top or cover 5 rests upon the ribs 8 and 9 provided on the interior face of the lateral walls 1 and 2, extendingfrom the rear end of the walls toward the forward end in an oblique direction.

To the free end of the plate 5 there is hinged a plate 10 which forms the exterior wall of the boX, this plate 10 being hinged to the plate 5 so that it may be angularly displaced from its normal vertical position and extend downward at the same angle as the plate 5 when this plate or cover 5 is disposed at the inclination shown in Fig.y 4. The extremity of the plate 10 is beveled slightly on its under face as at 11 so as to normally rest upon the inclined faces12 or extensions of the ribs 8 and 9 and so as to readily slide outward away from these stops or rests 12 when suflicient weight is disposed upon the cover 5 to cause it to descend.

In the rear wall 4 are fixed the eye bolts 13 and 14, designed to connect respectively,

16, the other ends of which are connected respectively to the cables 17 and 18' joined to the eye bolts 19 and 20, fixed in the anterior plate or wall 10.

The runway is embedded in the sidewalk so that the cover 5 will be level with the upper surface thereof, and the anterior wall 10 be in alinement with the external lineor border of the sidewalk or curb. If an automobile, for instance, is going to enter in the building, the front wheels rest upon the dihedral angle formed by the intersection of the cover 5 and the anterior wall 10, and the pressure which they produce thereon, overcomes the tension of the springs 15' and 1G, pushing the cover downward making the same oscillate upon his articulationA until it rests upon the ribs 8 and 9. This movement makes vthe anterior wall 10 slide upon the inclined extensions 12, as shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 6, to thereby form a continuation of the inclined plane constituted by the cover 5 which permits an easy passage of the vehicle.

After the vehicle has passed across the sidewalk the tension of the springs will act to replace the wall 10 and shift it to its vertical position and shift the cover 5 to its normal horizontal position as in Figs. 1 and 3 and the continuity of the plane surface of the sidewalk is restored.

The tension ofthe spring 15 is, of course, so regulated that it will be expanded only by the action of a weight greater than the weight of several persons standing together on the cover 5, as for instance, the weight of an automobile or of any other vehicle. In this manner the depression of the cover 5 and the movement of the wall 1() will not take place when one or more persons pass over it or rest upon it but will only take placeby the action of a weight sufficient to overcome the elastic power of the springs. Inl this way the continuity ofthe sidewalk is not interrupted and the possibility of4 accidents to persons is eliminated.

In Figs. 5 and 6 a modification of my invention is illustrated wherein compression springs 21 and 21a are vertically disposed and engaged against the cover and against the bottom wall. The cover and. the bottom walll are provided with projecting studs 22 and 23 which engage the ends ofthe springs and hold them in position.

In. order that the cover may normally be disposed level with the sidewalk when not in use, stops 24 are provided againstV which the. front. plate/10 bears when the plate is in its vertical position, as illustrated in Fig. 5,I thus limiting the inward movement of to nl'ate.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form andA construction. of this invention without departingfrom. thema- .'terialprincipl'es thereof It isin'olt therefore 1:desaltedtoa vconfinetheiin'venltion. to. theexart.

form herein shown and described, but it is wished to include all such as properly come within the.y scope of the` appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed" as; new, is:

1. A vehicle runway which comprises a framework having vertical spaced-sides, a cover hinged to said sides and disposed'to move vertically between them, and means yieldingly resistingA the angular verticaldepression of the cover underv the action of a vehicle.

2. A vehicle runway of the character described, which comprises a framework formed. of oppositely disposed vertical walls and an end wall, a cover hingedly mounted upon said framework between the side walls thereof, an endl wall hinged to the free vend of the cover, and means yieldingly holding the last named end wall in a vertical position and the cover in a horizontal. position but yielding under suflicient weight to permit said last named end wall and the cover to take an inclined position.

3. A vehicle runway of the character described comprising a framework formed of two side walls and an end wall, a cover hingedly mounted between the side walls, an end wall hinged to the free end of the cover and normally disposed in a vertical position, a contractile spring attached to the first named end wall and operatively connected to the second named end wall and normally holding the second named end wall in a verticalv position and the cover in a horizontal position, but yielding to permit the angular depression of the cover and the angular movement ofthe second namedt end wall.

t.' A vehicle runway of the character described comprising a framework formed 0f two side walls and an end wall, a cover hingedly mountedbetween the side Walls, an end wall hinged to the free endf'of the cover and normally disposed in a vertical position, a contractile spring attached to the first named end wall and operatively connected to the second named end wall and normally holding the second named end wall Vin a `vertical position and kthe cover in a horizontal position, but yi'eldingto permit the angular depression of the cover and 'theangul'ar movement of the second. named end wall`,.the side walls being provided with inclined` stops limitingthe downward movement ofn the cover.

5'. A vehicle runway of the character described comprising a framework formed of two side walls and anV end wall, a.. coverV hingedly mounted between thev side walls, an end wall hinged, to the freei..end.,ofl the cover and, normally disposedl vertical positioma, contractile spring attache'dlto the first. named. end wall, and" operatively. con-- the.

normally holding the second named end wall in a vertical position and the cover in a horizontal position, but yielding to permit the angular depression of the cover and the angular movement of the second named end wall, the side walls being provided with inclined stops limiting the downward movement of the cover, and with stops having inclined faces against which the lower end of the second named side wall bears when the latter is in a vertical position, the freeedge of the second named end wall being beveled to t against said stops.

6. A runway of the character described comprising two spaced parallel side walls of equal height, an end wall of equal height to the side walls and rigidly connected thereto, al cover having a length approximately equal to the length of said side walls and disposed between the side walls, the inner end of said cover adjacent the end wall being pivotally connected to the side walls whereby the cover may be angularly depressed, an end wall having the same height as the side walls and hingedly connected to the free end of the cover, said end wall at its free edge being beveled, and a spring normally resisting the depression of the cover and the outward movement of the second named end wall, the inside faces of the side walls being provided with downwardly inclined ribs constituting supports for the cover, the outer ends of said ribs being formed each with a vertical stop limiting the inward movement of the second named end wall and with an inclined extension beyond said stop and against which the free beveled edge of the second named end wall normally rests.

7 A vehicle runway including vertically spaced side walls, a hingedly supported cover disposed to move vertically between said side walls, and means yieldingly resisting angular vertical depression of the cover under the weight of a vehicle.

8. A vehicle runway including two side walls, a cover hingedly mounted between the side walls at one end of the cover, an end wall hinged to the opposite end of the cover and normally disposed in a vertical position, and a spring normally holding the cover in a horizontal position and the end wall in a vertical position but yielding to permit the angular depression of the cover and the angular movement of the end wall.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VICENTE GARCIA DIAZ.

Witnesses:

C. CHARTRAND, Dr. CARLOS GRATE.

copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents cach, by addressing the Commissioner o1' Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

